Walk Around Portland with Dan Burden

Livability and the role of Transportation

Where do we go from here?

People once fled cities … for their health …
Tennessee Avenue, Tallahassee, Florida
Today people are returning to cities …
… for their health
Portland, Oregon

Living-in-Place in America's
Aging Cities and Suburbs
Age Friendly Communities
Dan Burden, Co-Founder of Walkable and Livable Communities Institute
Port Townsend, Washington

"Walkable Communities:
What Makes A Community Walkable and Livable?
AARP and Portland State University Institute on Aging
By Dan Burden
Livable and Walkable Communities Institute

Living In Place
Living in Place remaining in one's home and neighborhood safely, independently, and comfortably, regardless of age, income, or ability level. It means the pleasure of living in a familiar environment throughout one's maturing years, and the ability to enjoy the familiar daily rituals and the special events that enrich all our lives.
(National Association of Home Builders)

Living in Place

Aging in Place

As we age our need for association will continue to grow

Keene, New Hampshire

Walkable Communities will Grow with and Accommodate our demographic trends and needs.

As we age access to gentle, friendly exercise will be vital

“What is the first thing an infant wants to do and the last thing an older person wants to give up?”

“What is the first thing an infant wants to do and the last thing an older person wants to give up?”
Walking is the exercise
that does not need a gym. It is the prescription without medicine, the weight control without diet, and the cosmetic that can’t be found in a chemist. It is the tranquilizer without a pill, the therapy without a psychoanalyst, and the holiday that does not cost a penny. What’s more, it does not pollute, consumes few natural resources and is highly efficient. Walking is convenient, it needs no special equipment, is self-regulating and inherently safe.”

What percentage of Americans do not live in a place where aging-in-place will work?
Answer: : 60-80%

If you plan cities for cars and traffic, you get cars and traffic.
If you plan for people and places, you get people and places.

Having less of this…
Requires more of this…

The notion of combining land use and transportation is not new
“Automobiles are often conveniently tagged as the villains responsible for the ills of cities and the disappointments and futilities of city planning. But the destructive effects of automobiles are much less a cause than a symptom of our incompetence at city building.
The simple needs of automobiles are more easily understood and satisfied than the complex needs of cities, and a growing number of planners and designers have come to believe that if they can only solve the problems of traffic, they will thereby have solved the major problems of cities.
Cities have much more intricate economic and social concerns than automobile traffic. How can you know what to try with traffic until you know how the city itself works, and whatelse it needs to do with its streets? You can't.”
Jane Jacobs, Death and Life of Great American Cities , 1961

Is this an age-friendly place?

As we age our walking speed slows. This woman took twice as long to get into the street as the younger people. Once in the street it took her three times as long to get to the far side.

What’s Wrong Here?
America’s Wealthiest County

What the Community Provided
What the Customer Wanted

Who we built for
Who we did not build for

Thirty percent of North Americans old enough to drive do not drive. This percentage is increasing.

The Pedestrian in America has been marginalized compromised to Death

Is this the landscape we want to leave our children?
From Blight to Boom – Reimaging 3rd Street

As we age access to healthy foods will be critical

Twenty years ago Kirkland, Washington declared it would not overly accommodate peak hour SOV travel. Instead they chose to grow “place”, and to focus on the health of its community and people.

This is Broadway, in Vancouver, B.C.
This street was formerly a strip street
This street and surrounding blocks once had a housing density around 6-7 du/acre.
This neighborhood is now one of the most sought after places to live, shop, work or play.
This neighborhood has tripled its density.
Property values increased ten fold.
Most of the original homes are still in place.

The Illustrative Plan (above) is the result of this planning approach; it shows the hypothetical buildout of the corridor, locating building footprints (new
and existing), open space, and parking areas. The corridor was divided into four study areas, the Western Gateway, the Neighborhood Center, the Village Center, and the Town Center. Each area has it’s own unique characteristics and challenges which were addressed.
Quick sketches were done to study buildings that would result from the hypothetical building footprints in the Illustrative Plan, combined with the proposed height limits in the study areas and potential architectural regulations of the new code. each street, which corresponds to written code regulations.

Canada
Marine Drive, Dundarave, B.C.
Highway 93, Missoula, Montana
USA

Building from our Values

Quality
Of
Life
In building facilities to accommodate cars…
…we often forget about the people

Depressive Disorders
19 million American adults
Leading cause of disability in the USA
Treatment:
Medication
Social Contact, including therapy
And…..

I shopped for a house, but I forgot to shop for a community to live in
…Cheryl
from a suburban Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Neighborhood
Florida has the lowest rate of volunteerism in the nation.
What is that all about?

Why?
As we age our need for walking increases GREATLY

Mobility

Bridgeport Way, University Place, Washington

Bridgeport (1999)

We need access to:
Health care
Shelter
Food
Exercise
Friends

Housing

Are we building the right housing stock?
Yes and No. The housing Americans need most in their senior years has not been built yet.
Affordable homes and lifestyles must be built in the right places, the right sizes and mix. We are overbuilding housing we do not need, and failing to build housing we need.

Exclusionary Zoning
Workforce Housing
In about half of central Ohio’s suburbs, those who teach the children, patrol the neighborhoods and put out the fires can’t afford to live among the people they serve.
Exclusionary: any community that did not allow for more than 8 residential units per acre.

Exclusionary Zoning
Workforce Housing
"Granville will never allow it to happen," said Officer Keith Blackledge. He and fellow officers have tried for two years to unionize their department to get higher pay, perhaps enough to enable them to live in the Licking County village 35 miles east of Columbus.
"Police officers in any neighborhood are going to be good for everyone," said Officer Jon Davis. "Just having them there will improve the quality of the neighborhood."

Which neighborhood is more age friendly?

America’s First Development
1550 feet from THE CHEERS BAR, 6 other bars, 8 deli’s, 4 banks, 3 hardware stores, 2 florists, 18 restaurants, 5 churches, grocer, pharmacist, medical and dozens more.
Beacon Hill, Boston

1550 feet from
NOTHING
Orlando, Florida

Such places do not sprout by happenstance. Driven by irresistible economic forces and shaped by subtly shifting social patterns, they are being created, down to the tiniest detail, by a handful of major developers with a master plan for the new America.…. NY Times, August 15, 2005

Santa Barbara, California

Complete Streets

Road Diets

Every blizzard proves motorists prefer two lane roads
Indeed they place medians and edge buffers on 4-lane roads when they get to design them (before snow plows arrive). So why not convert to 2-3 lanes, when conditions allow?

Abbott Road, E. Lansing, Michigan

This:
One less travel lane; bike lanes; parallel to back-in diagonal parking on one side; new pavement
This 5-lane Main Street was converted to…
Pottstown PA

1800 vehicles
per hour
per lane
vehicles per hour
Per lane
Road Diets

Benefits
Motorist: Safety 25- 40% improvement
Traffic moves with greater uniformity
Compact intersections more efficient
Greater cost savings
Turns are easier
Senior friendly (as motorists)
Others:
Senior friendly (as pedestrians)
Supports transit, walking and bicycling
Emergency response friendly
Increased property values (and tax base)
Community economic development

California Street, Mountain View, California

Speed reductions of 3-7 mph are common
Hartford, Connecticut

Walk Around Portland with Dan Burden

by jennymates on Jun 22, 2011

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Walk Around Portland with Dan Burden — Presentation Transcript